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Free Shipping in a Bad Economy
Shipping prices have gone up—but many etailers still offer free shipping at the same threshold. What does this mean to your bottom line? Can you continue to offer free shipping when times are tough? What can you do to still gain the sale?
Free shipping adds value to the online shopping experience. But with gas prices soaring, the cost of other services are following suit—including shipping and delivery fees from the major carriers. This presents a challenge to etailers, who have traditionally offered free shipping as a booster for sales.
At the advice of his developer, Reagan Klohn of Brandsport.com recently increased his site’s free shipping threshold to $100, from $50. He made this increase in April, and reports that this increase had little impact on his steady stream of orders and in fact, helped increase his bottom line. “While I still feel there is some intrinsic value in being able to market our site using the ‘free shipping’ terminology, (I’m) convinced the we can raise the free shipping threshold without hurting our business,” Klohn reported in an e-mail to Solid Cactus.
On BrandSport.com’s homepage, a banner in his header touts the free shipping offer. While higher than his previous threshold, this “Free Shipping Over $100” message still communicates extra value. And, with a higher threshold, average order sizes are encouraged to increase as well.
Online retailers could take a cue from BrandSport.com by looking at their own free shipping promotions. Perhaps it’s time to look at an old issue in a fresh way. If the threshold is at $25, perhaps raise it to $50 or $75. Take a look at average order size and make a decision based on that. Your “free shipping” ad is still accurate and simply sets the bar at a new, higher level. You may decide to cancel free shipping altogether. It is true that some online retailers have successfully removed free shipping altogether and have seen little impact on their sales.
In a previous eBiz Insider article we focused on the value of negotiating better rates with the major carriers. If an e-commerce site has the volume, this could also be an option to look into saving on shipping costs. Think about revisiting your busiest shippers and see what they can do for you in exchange for your continued high volume with them. Finally, with products like Solid Cactus’ Shipping Manager, etailers can set shipping rules down to the item level to ensure that they are not losing on shipping, but are instead saving every penny they can possibly save.
Rising fuel prices is not a new problem plaguing e-commerce. Research for this article uncovered articles in the New York Times, C|Net and other online and print publications covering the jump. On August 19, 2005, CNet.com reported that online retailers were beginning to worry about the rising cost of gas. Back then, it had risen to $67 a barrel. Clearly we are looking at newer, vastly higher numbers.
The good news is that inflated fuel costs will only fuel e-commerce as more would-be shoppers look our way. Clearly, there is much to protect. A survey by Harris Interactive in April found that 57% of surveyed shoppers said it is free shipping that urges them to make an online purchase. This same survey also revealed that 33% of those surveyed are shopping online to save money on gas. Clearly, breaks on shipping will continue to impact consumers’ decisions about where
they buy.
There is no doubt that online sales will continue to soar as people opt for the information super highway rather than the asphalt highway. Online retailers can still be smart and increase sales and revenues by building value in other areas, while not losing on shipping costs.
Senior Account Mananger at Solid Cactus
All posts by Donna Talarico | E-Mail the author
Congratulations! You’ve Grown. Now Pack Your Bags…
If you’ve grown your business to the point where your employees are packed together like teenagers in a Miley Cyrus concert line, it may be time to move to larger quarters.
Maybe you’ve grown to the point where you’re ready to warehouse your inventory rather than using all drop-shippers. Maybe you’ve stopped outsourcing and are hiring in-house creative and customer service departments. Maybe sales are soaring and you simply need more hands.
Whatever your circumstances, growing pains are certainly “good” problems. Here, we’ll share some tips on how to make your move smooth.
Find the Right Location
Location, location, location! It’s the secret of real estate and a crucial consideration when scouting for new digs. Is the new place close to where the bulk of your workforce resides? Is it close to highways and major routes for your vendors and commuters? If you need warehouse space, is there room for tractor trailers to make deliveries? If it’s a new retail location, what’s the potential for foot traffic? Consider your next growth spurt. How much can
you grow before you outgrow the
new building?
Make note of quality of life issues. How many nice lunch or happy hour places or hot errand spots like banks, post offices, hair salons and the like are nearby? What are local taxes like? Parking is also important. Will employees have to pay for parking? Is there ample free parking?
Use the Move as an Excuse to Upgrade
A new address can function like a “new broom” throughout the rest of your business. You need new stationery anyway, how about a new letterhead? Since you’re calling the printer anyway, why not look into a fresh image?
Aside from stationery, as you get ready to move, take an inventory of computers, copiers, cabinets, storage and furniture. Are they in good shape? How old are they? If things need replacing and updating, use the move to set up new items and start fresh.
What to do with the old office equipment? Schools, community centers, non-profits and shelters are happy with desks and old equipment. Most groups will be happy to haul it away for you as well. Leave the old stuff behind; have the new stuff delivered to the new location.
Strategically Plan Your Move & Orient Employees to the New Location
Every business is different, but the goal is to move with as little downtime as possible. A key is to have your IT infrastructure and technical components in place so that employees can just plug-in when they arrive.
Moving in a phased approach eliminates loss of production. Create a schedule and have each department separately. Having a seating chart ahead of time will help transitioning employees get to their new desk/area with little confusion.
Hold an orientation session in the new building to provide all the “housekeeping” details. Where are the break rooms, bathrooms, meeting rooms, office supplies, emergency exits? Are there any new policies or procedures in place at the new location? Are there new security systems or alarms in place? What about that new office equipment? Setting up a training schedule for new copiers and other equipment would be a good idea and sales reps are usually willing to stop in and train your staff.
Keep Your Customers Informed & Hey, Tell the Media, Too
When Solid Cactus recently moved from downtown Wilkes-Barre to Shavertown, an e-mail went out to all clients informing them about the move.
Make your move a PR event. Contact the local papers and news stations to get coverage on moving day. Send a press release ahead of time and follow up with a day-of Media Advisory. Moving trucks and employees carrying boxes makes for good footage and photo opps. Phase II can be the ribbon cutting, where local public officials can appear and congratulate the company on its growth. Again, the media likes this kind of stuff. Aside from the daily news, also try to target your region’s business or lifestyle magazine.
Keep Growing!
For all the temporary aggravation, growing pains are good pains. Keep growing your business and maybe soon, you’ll get to move all over again.
Senior Account Mananger at Solid Cactus
All posts by Donna Talarico | E-Mail the author
TrickShopMagic.com Seeing Magical Results with SC Redesign
Sir Arthur C. Clarke said, “Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
That quote from science fiction royalty sums up what happened when technology helped generate financial magic for—ironically—a California-based magic shop.
eBiz Insider profiled TrickShopMagic.com in December 2007. Owner Sam Blankenship was getting ready to launch his redesign. In January he went live and the results have been, well, magical.
Sales are up. Customer confidence is up. Conversions are up.
“Things are better in a number of areas,” says Sam. “The most important factor is our dollar sales are stronger than ever. Sales for the last 90 days are up 165% compared to the previous 90 days. Those are ‘before and after’ numbers, since we launched the redesigned version of The Trick Shop’s site three months ago.”
TrickShopMagic.com has over 6000 items available, so navigation has always been a challenge. The redesign improved site navigation with cascading menus, dynamic paging and other features.
“The new menu system flies out from the left nav and the paginated item pages are within the section. Our customers can easily page through our section and really dig deep into everything we have to offer,” Sam explained. “One of the sections that flies out from the left nav is our ‘new item’ section. That is the section that we’ve heard the most feedback about. Customers can hold the mouse over the section and see if we’ve added any new items since their last visit.”
As a part of the redesign, TrickShopMagic.com opted for many of the Solid Cactus features including the log-in feature and the “wishlist” feature. “We’ve already added the Shipping Manager, which gave us the confidence to ship orders internationally for the first time,” Blankenship said.
“One other feature that has really set us apart from our competition is the item page shipping calculator. The customer can easily determine the shipping costs that will apply before they even get the item to their cart. I strongly believe that a big chunk of new conversions have come as result of that feature alone,” he said.
Along with the redesign, Blankenship also added a customer service feature, Live Chat.
“The live chat feature is getting rave reviews. Many of our products require a certain amount of technical skill and now, before they buy, customers will be able to ask in real time and not have to call our store or wait for an email response any longer.”
Blankenship says the combination of features has had a cumulative effect for driving business.
“From an owner’s perspective, my favorite parts are the little things that make the site easy to use on my end,” says Sam. “Beth Hartman, my Solid Cactus rep, understood what I wanted to accomplish on my home page. She made sure the programmers provided adequate custom variables that allow me to easily add stuff to my home page without needing to worry about knowing RTML. In my old site, it was very difficult to make any changes without being worried that I’d totally mess up the home page.”
Blankenship advises anyone weighing a redesign to consider more than price. “I looked at a la carte options from other companies that could have saved significant money,” says Sam. “I even tried add-on features from other developers. But the old saying, ‘You get what you pay for’ has never been truer than it was with re-designing my website.
“Solid Cactus committed to me, and my website would have never looked this good with out them. Since the redesign Solid Cactus is still my partner every step of the way. I feel with their technology and help, we finally feel like we can challenge our much bigger competitors when we know that we have a resource like Solid Cactus on our side.”
What’s next for TrickShopMagic.com? What else do they have up their sleeve? It’s business as usual, albeit, a lot more business.
“After seeing TrickShopMagic.com come to life, it’s tempting to run out and try to start another web retail idea, but we’re going to stay focused on this core site and budget some of the new income to pay for future design elements.”
Senior Account Mananger at Solid Cactus
All posts by Donna Talarico | E-Mail the author
Spring Cleaning for Your Website
Combat the Clutter and Debunk the Junk!
It’s been months since your New Year’s Resolutions. Are you one of millions who resolved to get more organized? Any progress? Relax: Spring Cleaning time is here!
1. Can Users Understand Your Navigation?
To Clean This Up:
Condense your main categories. For example, if you are selling computers, your menu should say “Desktop,” “Laptops,” “Accessories,” and other parent categories rather than, “Dell Laptops,” “Gateway Laptops,” “HP Laptops” in the main navigation. Keep your main categories within your menu and use features like Cascading Menus or Expanding Navigation to make finding the section pages easier. An easier shopping experience leads to better conversions, higher orders and more repeat business.
2. How Long Are Your Item Pages?
On too many websites the item pages go on and on… while this information is helpful and relevant, it can be messy. Users may get tired of scrolling to get the information they need. Big blocks of text often hide pertinent information. Big selling points could be missed and a sale could be lost. If your item pages require lots of scrolling, organize them better.
In e-commerce, there are places for flash and animation, however too much of it is distracting. You want people to land on your site and know exactly where to go and what to do to get to that “add to cart” button. If the homepage is cluttered with flashing banners and graphics going down the entire right hand column (we see this a lot!), your visitors will become distracted, if not annoyed. You have less than ten seconds to make a first impression. Limit the flashy graphics.
To Clean This Up:
Clear the clutter from your website and your visitors will thank you the best possible way—by becoming customers.
Senior Account Mananger at Solid Cactus
All posts by Donna Talarico | E-Mail the author
Boundary Scanning: Putting on Your P.I. Hat — How to Scope out Your Online Competition
Welcome. You’ve got competition.
Boundary-scanning is an age-old method of scoping out the competition. For instance, if you were opening a restaurant, one of the first things you’d likely do is start eating out at all the other local restaurants. How is the service? Do they have specials? Is the place clean? Is the food tasty? How varied is the menu?
The same techniques can work when it comes to opening or operating an e-commerce business. You have a world of research at your fingertips when you land on a competitor’s webpage. If you suspect that a competitor is outperforming you, spend some time on their site and figure out where you can improve. You can also find weak points in the competitor’s service to learn where to put your strength.
Remember: It is important to stand out and be unique with your own e-commerce venture, so use competitors only as a reference and learning tool, not as a place to get content and ideas.
Here are some boundary-scanning tips to use when checking out the competition:
Scan the Website - Do a web search to seek out competitor sites, specifically sites that have higher rankings than yours. Checking out a competitor website may seem like a no-brainer, but you have to look below the surface. Just because the site may have a cool logo or look flashy does not mean it functions well or makes for an easy shopping experience. Spend some time going through the site, click around. Are the products easy to find? Are the product descriptions–descriptive? Assume the role of a consumer. Jot down your likes and dislikes. See where you may have an edge. Share your findings with your web developer and find out more about features you’d like. Ask questions, too. The competition may have a feature that looks great, but decide if it would benefit your site.
There is a great tool called MarketLeap at www.marketleap.com, which allows you to compare your link popularity with up to three other URLs.
The About Us and Career Pages on any e-commerce site can be very telling. The careers page can give you a glimpse into the size and growth of the company. Are they hiring? The About Us page can give information on the history of the company, where their roots are, what other companies they may own, what professional associations they have and more.
Make a Purchase - You may not want to give your competition money, but think about it. If you purchase from your competitor, you will be rewarded with some great information. You will participate first hand in the total shopping experience from that website. You will get to see how smoothly the transaction goes, if the order arrives when promised and in what condition and how the item is packaged. If you want to delve further into the investigation, return or exchange the item and see how that process works as well. As a bonus, you will get an up close and personal look at a competitor’s item.
Call Customer Service - How is the competition treating your customers? Call the customer service line with a question about a product. Ask a question where the answer is provided on the website just to test the rep’s knowledge. Customer service is a crucial link between website and consumer and something you should provide at the highest level. So, see how your competition is handling it.
Check Social Networking - Check MySpace, Facebook, Digg, blogs, etc. to see how active your competition is in social media. In this more laid back atmosphere you may find some great information such as gossip, customer feedback and news.
Add a Google Alert - Get real-time updates on what your competition is up to. Add their name to your Google Alerts. This will provide you with information from various news outlets and blogs.
Of course, the goal in e-commerce is to build your brand. However, having a handle on what the competition is doing and how they are doing it will provide important information and better enable you to improve your business.
Senior Account Mananger at Solid Cactus
All posts by Donna Talarico | E-Mail the author